Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Ali Weinberg writes: During his remarks at a town hall in Richmond today, President Obama gave a plug for a rally planned by The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, called the "Campaign to Restore Sanity," contrasting the the tone of the spoof news show with that of its "purposely provocative" cable counterparts.

"What happens is these cable shows and talk show hosts, a lot of them figure out that, 'The more controversial I can be, and I'm calling Obama this name or that name and saying he wasn't born in this country, that will get me attention," the president said.

Part of the challenge of combating purposely provocative shows, Obama added, is creating a way to remind Americans that the country is not as polarized as cable shows would sometimes make it seem.

"Use Jon Stewart, the host of the Daily Show," Obama said. "Apparently he's going to host a rally called something like, 'Americans Who Favor a Return to Sanity or something like that."